At first glance, the image conveys an atmosphere suspended between ruin and revelation, between an ancient grandeur now decayed (the broken columns and the shattered flooring) and a cosmic opening that manifests itself within the sculptural face in the center. The observer is almost inevitably led to grasp a reference to the Hellenic world or to classical antiquity (columns, flooring typical of a ruined temple), but also to a mystical-prophetic dimension evoked by the celestial gash and the circular glow that stands out in correspondence with the eye. Below, a reflection that intertwines the "doctrine of awakening", "negative theology" and the themes of "power and progress" with references to the work of Nietzsche (the criticism of the "new idol", i.e. the State) and to chapter 11 of the Apocalypse (the "Beast", the eschatological and dissolving power):
1. The ruined architecture and the symbol of a civilization in decline
The shattered classical columns suggest an ancient heritage that lies in irreversible decline. From a Nietzschean perspective, this could symbolize the end of “traditional morality” and old metaphysical structures, especially if one thinks of the “death of God” and the consequent collapse of those cultural values that until then had been considered eternal and immutable. In parallel, the doctrine of awakening (which in the West can take different forms: from Buddhism to Hermeticism, from esoteric currents to what Julius Evola called “heroic asceticism”) involves the shattering of worldly bonds and the discovery that institutions and social constructs are ultimately transitory, apparent, “empty” of a stable essence. The ruin of the columns therefore denounces the instability of external “forms”: the powerful institution of the State (Zarathustra’s “new idol”) or the systems of power to which man clings, which – just like the ancient temples – end up crumbling.
In the context of Revelation 11, the destruction of the temple (and the symbolic measurement of the sanctuary) is a fundamental turning point: a judgment is announced that reveals the fragility of worldly powers. The ruins, therefore, embody a warning: what appears solid and “divine” on earth ends up collapsing when subjected to the final judicial event, to the purifying fire of truth or awakening.
2. The great face and the cosmic gaze: between idol, unknown God and negativity
In the center of the image stands out a gigantic sculptural face, whose “ocular” part is transformed into an energetic or cosmic vortex. This iconographic element presents different stratifications:
1. Nietzsche's "new idol": In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the "new idol" is the State that demands adoration and replaces the old divinity: it becomes "divine" for the masses, and persuades them to sacrifice their freedom. The monumental stone face recalls the idea of a human construction that wants to pose as a divinity. It is imposing, difficult to ignore, and visually occupies the "sacred" space in which the individual-traveler (the small central figure) is forced to pass.
2. The apocalyptic “beast” and its symbolic seduction: In the Apocalypse, the beasts represent totalitarian, seductive or tyrannical powers that want to be honored as God. The majesty of the face could therefore allude to that terrifying and overwhelming energy that embodies the last eschatological adversary, promising greatness but leading to perdition. The vortex in the eye recalls the “abyss” or the “whirlpool” in which anyone who submits to these powers is lost.
3. The negativity of God (negative theology): in apophatic (or negative) theology, God cannot be depicted except through the absence or subtraction of human concepts. Yet, here we see a face that seems “divine” or “idolatrous,” but which is literally torn and “emptied” inward by a cosmic vortex. This “opening” within the face could suggest that every image of God is ultimately sucked into an inaccessible, inexpressible mystery. As if to say: what appears to be the Most High is in reality a simulacrum that does not contain the absolute Being, but reveals itself either as an idol (a worldly power) or as an allusion to an ineffable void. From this perspective, the work presents a “face-monument” that is both powerful and mendacious, and which opens onto a dizzying unknown that escapes definition.
3. The solitary figure on the path: the man, the prophet or the ascetic
In the center, among the rubble, a single human figure can be seen walking towards the great face (or, even, moving away towards that same face in a sort of "initiatory passage"). Here the classic dualism between the "awakened" man and the enslaved multitude is translated into an image: there are no crowds, nor groups of adoring people, but a single traveler exploring the ruins. It is as if he were the "last man left" to confront what remains of the collapsed power (or, in reverse, he could represent the man who still succumbs to the charm of the "new idol" and goes to meet it).
- In Nietzsche's thought, the figure of the wayfarer, the pilgrim or the "free spirit" is central. He is the one who, in the destruction of previous values, does not lose himself in passive nihilism, but seeks a horizon of creation, the "transvaluation of all values".
- In the Apocalypse, the prophetic dimension implies a path of testimony and judgment against the powers of the world: the witnesses come to announce the truth and are killed by the beast that rises from the abyss. This solitary presence, therefore, could allude either to the prophet who goes to unmask the lie of the idol, or to any human being, faced with the radical eschatological choice: to accept or reject the "mark" of the beast/idol.
- In the doctrine of awakening, the ascetic (or the yogi, the initiate, the hermit) separates himself from the mass context to undertake a path of asceticism – always solitary and sometimes heroic – which leads him to penetrate the veil of appearances. The ruined landscape could represent the “dissolution” of the phenomenal world, while the ascetic remains vigilant in that “final hour”, determined to overcome illusions and realize the original void, the “emptiness” or the supreme truth.
4. The Celestial Opening and the Conflict Between Power and Salvation
In the sky, to the left and right, majestic cloud formations and celestial bodies develop, as if the firmament were partly split into a daytime (or twilight) vision and partly into a nighttime one, with the presence of moons or planets. This cosmic aspect recalls the idea of an eschatological horizon, where the boundaries between day and night, light and darkness, blur and intensify. It is the “hour of judgment”, the “time of revelation”, in which the celestial powers reveal themselves.
- In Nietzschean criticism, the “overman” (Übermensch) is the one who looks out onto a post-human horizon, crosses the boundaries of his own time and becomes a “creator of new values”. The cosmic opening could represent the possibility of a new foundation, but also the abyss that can swallow up those who are not ready.
- In apocalyptic terms, the torn sky is always a place of judgment and salvation: it is from the sky that the angels descend, it is from the sky that the sign of the Son of Man comes (in other chapters of the Apocalypse), and in the sky the divine presence gathers that ultimately triumphs over the beast. Here, it is not only a threatening sky: it is also a space that opens to a light. In the vortex inside the face, that synthesis between the threat (the idolatrous power) and the revelation of a possible “beyond” could be revealed.
- In negative theology, the open sky becomes a metaphor for the elusive divine: “God dwells in an inaccessible light,” and what is seen is not Being itself, but only the tear, the indication that “something absolute” eludes any definition. The luminous vortex in the eye of the sculpture then functions as an invitation: the statue, the icon of power, is literally “pierced” by this infinite dimension, which paradoxically renders it vain or “transient.”
5. Power and progress as eschatological tension
Between power and progress, the destiny of man is played out: on the one hand, the promise of continuous material, political, social advancement (typical of the “new idol-State” that Nietzsche criticizes, and of many modern and contemporary ideologies); on the other, the threat of a catastrophe, of a dissolution, which in apocalyptic terms prefigures the end of earthly powers and the passage to the “kingdom of God”. The image, with its post-catastrophic scenario and the opening onto another dimension, seems to warn that any “progress” that ignores the profound truth (awakening, transcendence, criticism of what is idolatrous) can only turn into rubble.
- Nietzsche, Revelation 11 and the dissolution: The Apocalypse announces that the kingdoms of the world will become the kingdom of the Lord, but to do so they must go through destruction: “the second woe is past, behold, the third is coming at once” (Rev 11:14). Nietzsche announces the transvaluation as the demolition of all given values, “a soap bubble on sand”. In both cases, there is the theme of a reversal and a settling of accounts. The image of ruins and cosmic split perfectly captures this moment of transition: we are no longer in the old (collapsed) civilization, nor are we yet in a new earth (the “face” is partly frightening, partly mysteriously open).
- Negative theology and “doctrine of awakening”: in both perspectives, the “last step” implies that the forms of power and images of God are deconstructed. Only the interiority of a true awakening (or a relationship with the Unknowable) can regenerate a sense, which is no longer based on human constructs. Hence the presence of a single human figure on the path, perhaps suggesting the need for a personal initiatory journey, rather than a collective adherence to a new idol.
Conclusion
The image chosen for the essay “Between the New Idol and the Beast: Power, Prophecy and Dissolution in Nietzsche and Apocalypse 11” concentrates, in an extremely suggestive way, the thematic core of a comparison between Nietzsche's criticism of the State (and in a broader sense of the powers that become divinities) and the apocalyptic vision of judgment, where every earthly power is unmasked and subjected to ruin. The aesthetics of classical ruins dialogues with the doctrine of awakening – shattering worldly illusions – and with negative theology – every divine face is in reality a glimmer of light towards an inaccessible mystery, not an actual representation of God. “Progress” in the manner of the “new idol” is here shown as an empty colossus, subject to inevitable dissolution, while the human being, like a solitary traveler, finds himself faced with the vertigo of an “apocalypse” that is at once judgment, revelation and the possibility of authentic liberation.
Ultimately, the visual composition alludes to the dramatic confrontation between power and truth, between idolatry and revelation: an initiatory passage, we might say, which invites us to reabsorb the illusion of dominion and of the “institutional divine” in a deeper understanding of the human condition and of the ultimate mystery that unites both the rubble and the cosmos.
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